2018–19 Belgian First Division B


The 2018–19 season of the Belgian First Division B began in August 2018 and ended in April 2019. It was the third season of the First Division B following a change in league format from the old Belgian Second Division.
The season was impacted by the 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal which most notably involved Mechelen, as it was unclear upon completion of the season whether and how any involved clubs would be sanctioned and what the effect would be on the number of promotion and relegation places. As a result, Mechelen won the title and celebrated promotion on 16 March 2019, following a win over Beerschot Wilrijk in the promotion-playoffs, although the verdict on the investigation was still pending. End of May, Mechelen was found guilty and not allowed to be promoted, with runners-up Beerschot Wilrijk taking their spot instead. Mechelen appealed the decision at the Belgian Court for Sportsarbitration, which confirmed the verdict of guilt in July, but also ruled that according to the rules of the Belgian Football FA Mechelen could not be penalized with relegation back to the Belgian First Division A as the violation occurred during a previous season, hence Mechelen was allowed to keep its promotion.

Team changes

In

Stadiums and locations

MatriculeClubCityFirst season of
current spell at
second level		Coming from2017-18 resultStadiumCapacity
155Antwerp2017–18Belgian First Amateur Division3rd Olympic Stadium12,771
2554Lommel2018–19Belgian First Amateur Division1st Soevereinstadion8,000
25Mechelen2018–19Belgian First Division A16th AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne16,672
18Leuven2016–17Belgian Pro League2nd Den Dreef10,000
134Roeselare2010–11Belgian Pro League5th Schiervelde Stadion9,075
5632Tubize2009–10Belgian Pro League8th Stade Leburton9,000
10Saint-Gilles, Brussels2015–16Belgian Third Division6th Stade Joseph Marien5,500
2024Westerlo2017–18Belgian First Division A7th Het Kuipje8,035

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Opening tournament

Closing tournament

Aggregate table


;Notes

Promotion play-offs

The winners of the opening tournament and the closing tournament will meet in a two-legged match to determine the division champion, who will promote to the 2019–20 Belgian First Division A. The team finishing highest in the aggregate table will be allowed to play the second leg at home. In case a single team wins both the opening and the closing tournament, that team will be promoted automatically and no play-offs will be organized.
On 9 November 2018, Mechelen won the opening tournament and was therefore assured of playing at least the promotion play-offs. On the final day of the closing tournament, Mechelen only managed a draw away to Lommel, allowing Beerschot Wilrijk to win the closing period. If Mechelen had won they would have assured direct promotion, instead they had to face Beerschot-Wilrijk in the promotion play-offs.
The first leg saw both teams having chances, with goalkeeper Michael Verrips making big saves in the first half to deny attempts by Erwin Hoffer and Gertjan De Mets, while in the second half Mechelen failed to take advantage of a red card for Jan Van den Bergh. In the second leg, Beerschot-Wilrijk again saw a player sent off following a vicious tackle by Marius Noubissi already after 32 minutes. Nikola Storm opened the score for Mechelen just after the start of the second half, but ten-men Beerschot-Wilrijk managed the equalizer through penalty kick and looked on its way to promote via the away goals rule, when substitute Clément Tainmont scored a volley just two minutes from time to win the match and send Mechelen back to the highest division after just one season in the Belgian First Division B. With that, Beerschot Wilrijk lost the promotion play-offs for the second consecutive year. Several weeks later, Mechelen was found guilty of match-fixing and not allowed to promote as a result, with Beerschot-Wilrijk taking their spot. Mechelen appealed the decision successfully, as per the rules of the Belgian FA they could no longer be punished for events of more than one year in the past.
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Mechelen won 2–1 on aggregate.

Relegation play-offs

The four bottom teams in the aggregate table took part in the relegation play-offs in which they keep half of the points they collected during the overall regular season. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the playoff: Roeselare 17 points, Lommel 16, OH Leuven 15 and Tubize 12 points. As the points of all teams were rounded up, the half point deduction was not relevant in case of ties. Roeselare started matchday 5 with 2 points, but the game, away against Lommel ended in a 0-1 win for Roeselare, giving them 3 points and tying with Tubize in points. On matchday 6 of 6, coincidentally, Roeselare met Tubize, and defeated them 4-0. As a result, Tubize were relegated to the Belgian First Amateur Division.

Season statistics

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 Leonardo RochaLommel16
2 Igor de CamargoMechelen13
2 Thomas HenryOH Leuven13
2 Youssouf NiakatéUnion SG13
2 Dante VanzeirBeerschot Wilrijk13
6 Marius NoubissiBeerschot Wilrijk12
7 Faïz SelemaniUnion SG9
8 Gustav EngvallMechelen8
9 Jens NaessensWesterlo7
10 Kurt AbrahamsWesterlo6
10 Frédéric DuplusOH Leuven6
10 Roman FerberUnion SG6
10 Mathieu MaertensOH Leuven6
10 Percy TauUnion SG6
10 Tarik TissoudaliBeerschot Wilrijk6

;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
;1 goal
;1 own goal
Upon completion of the regular season a team of the season award was compiled, based upon the results of the team of the week results throughout the season, constructed based on nominations from managers, assistant-managers, journalists and analysts. The results were announced from 22 March 2019, with one player revealed each day.

Number of teams by provinces

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